Letter to be auctioned

[Kyt]

BBC NEWS | England | West Midlands | 'I wish these air battles would stop'

"Your toy shop Barnbys is all down... the Hippodrome was hit whilst a performance was on, but folk got out. Theatre Royal has been hit. Boots (New Street) is in ruins and they are still searching for three folks."

When Maud Benton's son Eric left the Black Country in the 1940s to join the RAF she was determined to keep him updated with what was happening back home.

The housewife from Old Hill sent him letters secretly and asked him to burn them, knowing she could have got into trouble for disclosing sensitive information.

He never did, and now a total of 88 letters sent back and forth between them in 1941 and 1942 are to be sold at auction.

Historians have said the collection, found in a junk shop in Bournemouth, could be one of the most complete records ever found of what happened in Birmingham and across the West Midlands during World War II.

The letters describe the day Birmingham's New Street Station was damaged by bombs, particularly platforms one, two, three and five, and how people were forced to catch trains from outside the city.

Ms Benton also describes in one letter how she had only been able to sleep in her own bed for one night over a whole week because there had been so many air raids, leaving her "nearly dead for want of sleep".

"We still have air raids 13 nights in succession," another letter said.

"There was a bomb dropped in the road between top church Dudley and Regent Picture House, but only doors and windows suffered loss at church, Picture House, New Co-operative Place and just a few shops there, no casualties whatever.

"I wish these air battles at night would stop, it's awful."

The collection is expected to reach at least £500 when it goes up for sale in Ludlow, Shropshire, on Thursday.

"It's absolutely fascinating and unique," said Richard Westwood-Brookes, of Mullock's Auctioneers.

"When the bombings were going on in these places, people were too busy doing things like putting out fires to record what was happening.

"And of course people knew the dangers of sending such detailed correspondence. You can imagine what the authorities would have made of these letters if they had been found - she might have been accused of being a German spy.

"But she was just an innocent housewife and she just wanted to let her son know she was all right, and to check he was all right."

The letters also tell of "strong rumours" Ms Benton had heard about German paratroopers landing in the Wyre Forest, in Worcestershire.

She said she knew they were true but did not explain more.

Ms Benton also tells of a woman killed when a British aircraft, aiming to land on an airstrip in Halfpenny Green, near Wolverhampton, landed instead on her car.

Another story describes how a friend of hers was unable to escape the bombing - even in rural Worcestershire.

'Invaluable resource'

"Betty Swingler went to Callow End last week for a holiday," one letter says.

"Chose Callow End because it is safe and was nearly bombed out of bed when Upton-upon-Severn was damaged last week.

"Fancy Upton, but it is on the Severn you know and I guess they follow rivers. There's nothing there."

Along with the day-to-day struggles of dodging the bombs, the letters describe the financial pressures of wartime.

Ms Benton describes how income tax was at 95p in the pound and how many shops were going out of business.

At another point she complains how "unfair" it is that a window cleaner was being forced to go into the forces by the authorities and would have to abandon his business.

"These letters bring alive what happened in the war more than anything else," said West Midlands historian Professor Carl Chinn.

"They link up the dates of what happened with people's own personal experiences of those events - and most importantly, it's without the kind of censorship other things are subjected to.

"That's an invaluable historic resource."

But despite learning so much about the area in which she lived, little is known about Ms Benton herself and her son.

One theory is that after the war Eric moved to the south coast, and it may have been a clearance of his house after his death which led to the letters turning up for sale in the junk shop.

"These weren't gung-ho heroes - these were ordinary people," said Mr Westwood-Brookes.

"As I've said to people who've been interested in the sale so far, there's definitely a book in it."

[mathsmal]

Interesting collection but I think the estimate is rather high!

A diary of a FEPOW went for £360 in an auction recently (and was promptly resold on Ebay - but went for about the same amount) so £500+ may be a bit optimistic.

[mathsmal]

Well, they sold for £1400 - so that shows what I know!

From the BBC:

The collection was expected to reach £500 when it went up for sale in Ludlow, Shropshire, on Thursday.

However, it was sold for £1,400 to an anonymous bidder, who was expected to keep the collection in Birmingham.

BBC NEWS | England | West Midlands | 'I wish these air battles would stop'